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XVIII: The Battle of D.C.
Broadcast Washington D.C. has turned into a warzone! Soldiers from two rebel groups: The Knights of Washington D.C. and The Zoni, are currently fighting for control over the city. There has already been major damage to iconic locations, and we are in code red until further notice. All citizens have been instructed to either stay in their homes or flee the city. Wandering outside is strongly discouraged. It is unknown what the cause of the conflict is, but the US government is taking action to prevent this battle from continuing. We will bring more updates to you as soon as we get more information. Please stay safe. Xena Amber and I passionately exchanged blows, mostly to the face. I refrained from using any of my electricity based attacks because I didn’t want to electrocute Drake by accident. However, it was very hard to practice restraint against her. Not surprisingly, she attacked me with extreme aggression. Normally, her moves were graceful and precise, but something in her had definitely changed. Now, her movements were spontaneous, and non-coordinated. It made her easier to fight, but far less predictable. None of us had an advantage in our struggle for some time. Something in me still didn’t want to hurt her, so I inadvertently held back. Amber, on the other hand, wanted to rip my heart out, but she wanted to do it so badly that she lost her composure. However, I knew that there was no way for her to keep up that effort for long. She was operating in the sixth speed, and no one could sustain that. Soon enough, she started getting sloppy, and at the first opening, I landed a strong kick to her stomach. She reeled backwards, and coughed up a strange colored substance. “I just ruptured your small intestine Amber,” I said to her menacingly. “Don’t make me mess you up even more.” Amber looked at me with pained eyes. “You think that this hurts me?! Nothing hurts as much as leaving me for Drake you bitch!” She charged at me again, and scratched at my face. I easily dodged all of her strikes, and then I caught both of her hands. “I didn’t know that you felt that way. Why didn’t you just tell me how you felt? Things could have worked out so much better between the two of us,” I lamented. She struggled out of my grip and pushed me away. “Like that would have made any difference Xena,” Amber cried. Seeing her in the broken, weary state that she was in genuinely upset me, and I lost the drive to fight her. “Amber, seriously, what happened to you? You were like a sister to me. Why do things have to be like this now? We shouldn’t be fighting like this,” I said in a gentler tone. “I don’t know Xena, I really don’t. I just thought that, after all we had been through together that, maybe there was something more between us. How could you deny that bond between us?” she asked with a shaky voice. “I didn’t deny anything Amber. I love you, but not that way. I just can’t. I don’t have an attraction to women like that, I’m sorry,” I replied sadly. Amber conjured a dagger, and her facial expression became much more sinister. “Fine then, if I can’t have you, then no one can!” she asserted. “Amber, please, be reasonable. Don’t make me do this,” I begged. It was no use. She made one final desperate charge to kill me. When she got close, she stabbed at my head. I easily dodged her attack, and I grabbed her dagger. Using my other hand, I knocked her off balance. While she was stumbling, I grabbed her, and stabbed her in the heart, one of her few weak spots that could not be healed. As she started to violently cough up blood, I held her close to my face, and I kissed her on her bloody lips. “There’s a reason why they call it a crush Amber,” I whispered to her. Then, I laid her on the ground, and I let her die in relative peace. Drake Mizo was completely kicking my ass. All my injuries that Xena healed had returned with a vengeance. I couldn’t land a single hit on Mizo, and now, I was just trying to stall him long enough for Xena to come and rescue me. Unfortunately, even that strategy seemed unlikely to succeed. Luckily for me, he briefly stopped attacking me to taunt me. “I find it hard to believe that arguably the most powerful person on the planet decided to fall for a street rat like you. I guess fighting all the time severely dropped her standards,” he scoffed. “I may seem like nothing to you, but there’s more to me than what you can see,” I said while struggling to stay on my feet. Mizo laughed. “I hope there is, because what I am looking at now does not impress me at all.” I fell to my knees, and Mizo didn’t hesitate to ready his final blow to my head. Unfortunately for him, a shot of concentrated energy passed straight between his eyes, and he fell to the ground, dead. “You don’t impress me much either,” Xena said to his carcass in a sinister tone. Shocked, I looked at his dead body. “Xena, you just killed him,” I gasped. “Are you really about to give me some bullshit speech about how heroes shouldn’t kill people?” she asked, clearly irritated. “No, no, not at all. I’m just surprised as all. I thought that he wouldn’t go down so easily,” I quickly said. She walked over to me, and once again healed my injuries. “Keep in mind, Mizo was a normal human, albeit one with some insane physical abilities. All I needed to do was catch him off guard,” she explained. Feeling much better, I stood up again, and clenched my fists. We smiled at each other, briefly sharing a nice moment. However, reality quickly came back to us. “I hate to break the moment Xena, but D.C. is still at war,” I said sadly. “That’s not a problem. Without Mizo, and with me, the Knights will easily win,” she replied confidently. “You see, that’s the thing. If you go out there and kill and the Zoni soldiers, then you’ll be proving Mizo right, and the rest of the world will probably rally against you.” Xena opened her mouth to respond, but she stopped to think. “Damn, you have a good point, but I can’t just sit around and do nothing,” she lamented. “What do you suggest?” “This will sound crazy, but I suggest that we lose this battle, and then let the Zoni collapse under their own lack of leadership,” I proposed. Xena slapped me so hard that I bled a little. “Ow, fuck, what was that for?” “Drake, are you crazy? Why the hell would we, I allow that to happen? Are you seriously asking me to let people die when they don’t have to?!” “No, I don’t know, yeah!” Xena slapped me again, and then, I became livid. “You know what, just listen for one moment. You’re the Avatar, so you can easily beat all the Zoni. Happily ever after right? No. More people will join the Zoni after seeing the war god you’ve become, and as a result, the Zoni will become more powerful and more violent. Do you want that to happen Xena? Well, do you?!” I yelled. “Drake, I—” “No, I’m not done. Yeah, it seems like a crazy idea, and I admit, it is. But it’s our only chance at stopping the Zoni from becoming more powerful. You can’t stop bloodshed with even more bloodshed Xena. I’ve learned that multiple times throughout my life. Yeah, the Zoni will win today, but there will be consequences for them. I can promise you that.” Xena didn’t reply, and I feared that I may have gone a little too far during my rant. “Xena, I’m sorry okay? I know that you’ve been in this situation before, and honestly, I don’t think that there is an easy solution to this battle. I just want you to know that whatever you decide to do, I’m with you,” I said calmly. “Thanks Drake, but to be honest with you, I don’t know what to do either,” she said quietly. I was about to kiss her, but I heard a very loud explosion close to the ship. I ran to the window and looked outside, and I was horrified at what I saw. Washington D.C. was practically leveled. The city was not recognizable at all, and it appeared that the Knights were losing badly. I could faintly see Orion and a few squads of his soldiers, struggling to keep up the fight. “Uh Xena, whatever you decide to do, I think that you need to do it fast. There isn’t much of D.C. or the Knights left at this point,” I said worriedly. Xena levitated in the air, and she looked off toward the city. “Then let’s go. We have a war to win.” Next time on 13th Redux... Category:Chapters